Improvement in sewing-machines



KEATS & L K 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Sewing Machine.

Patented Nov. 14. 1865.

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Sewing Machilie.

No. 50,995. Pa'tented Nov. 14. 1865 WI TNESS 5 W/ zwcsSES W Mm s w flbgr4 PETERS. Pholo-Uflwgnpher. Walbingicn, [1.0.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN KEATS AND WILLIAM STEPHENS CLARK, OF STREET, COUNTY OF SOMERSET,ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,995, dated November14, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN KEATS and WILLIAM STEPHENS CLARK, of Street,in the county of Somerset, England, subjects of the Queen of GreatBritain, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements inSewing-Machines; and we, the said JOHN KEATS and WILLIAM STEPHENS CLARK,do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and in what mannerthe same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertainedin and by the following statement thereofthat is to say This inventionhas for its object improvements in sewing-machines, and relates to thatdescription of sewing-machines in which two threads are employed, a loopfrom one of which is drawn up through the material being sewed by meansof a hook, and a shuttle containing the other thread is then passedthrough theloop so drawn.

The improvements also chiefly have reference to so constructing asewing-machine that the machine may be worked with two waxed threads.For this purpose the hook is carried at the bottom of a slide whichmoves vertically to and fro in guides carried on the end of an arm. Thisarm projects from a standard carried by the bed-plate of the machine.The arm is made hollow, and through it an axis passes,fron1 which motionis communicated to the different parts of the machine. Motion is pin,for giving motion to the slide that carries the hook; also, a cam forgiving motion to the apparatus for moving thematerial to be sewed, andalso an eccentric for moving the shuttle.

The crank-pin gives motion to the slide that carries the hook by itsworking in a camgroove cut in a piece attached to the slide, the pinhaving, by preference, a roller upon it to reduce the friction. The camgives motion to the stopper orinstrument that gives motion to thematerial being sewed, in the following manner.

The stopper is composed of a plate notched on its under side. This plateis pin-jointed to one end of a rod, the other end of which ispin-jointed to the lower end of a slide thatcan be moved vertically toand fro between guides carried by the forks at the end of the hollowarm. The rod being retained at an angle to the slide, the slide isconstantly pressed upward by a spring; but when the notched plate is tobe pressed on the material being sewed,the slide is forced down by itsupper end being acted on by one arm of a lever, the other arm beingacted on by the upper end of a rod, the lower end of which is acted onbythe cam. As the slide is forced downward the notched plate will bepushed forward, as itisprcvented from descending by the material that isbeing sewed and bythe table thatit rests upon, and as the slide movesforward it will push forward the material with it. The notched plate iskeptpressed down on the material being sewed by a spring carried by thelower end of the slide.

In place of employing anotched plate at the bottom of the rod that isjointed to the slide, the end of the rod may be made fork-shaped, thefork being used to push forward the material.

The table that the material rests upon is composed of a small plate thatis carried by an inclined support from the bed-plate of the machine, theplate being at a distance above it.

In order that the notched plate maybe enabled to move the material beingsewed in different directions, the slide which carries it is composedofa circular rod, so that by turning the rod partly round the notchedplate can be made to point in difierent directions, and the slide can beretained in any ofits positions by means of aset-screw. In order thatthe distance may be varied thatthe notched plate is caused at each ofits movements to push the material forward, the length of the rod thatis acted on by the cam can be varied.

The arrangement above described for giving motion to the fabric isapplicable to other sewing-machines than the one herein described.

Motion is transmitted from the eccentric to the arm that moves theshuttle in the followin g manner The eccentric works between twoprojections on a slide that is capable of moving vertically to and froin guides carried by the forks of the hollow arm. The upper end of thisslide is connected to one arm of a bell-crank lever which turns on a pinabove theupper fork. The other arm of the bell-crank descends downward,and at its lower end is pin-jointed to theiarm that moves the shuttle.The shuttle is moved to and fro above the plate which supportsthematerial being sewed, and is formed with a dovetailed recess alongits back, so that the shuttle may be supported by and moved to and froalonga dovetailed projection. This dovetailed projection is formed upona concave plate or race that tits the back of the shuttle. At the backof the shuttle a groove is also formed, which commences at its nose orpoint, and which proceeds along the back until it connects and becomescontinuous with the dovetailed recess. Through a break or interruptionin the dovetailed projection a spring loop-spreader formed on the end ofa slide projects. The point of this spreader is on a line with the noseof the shuttle and it enters the groove in its back. The endof thespreader is also close to the hook of the needle, so that when the hookhas drawn up a loop of the under thread through the material beingsewed, and the shuttle commences to pass through the loop, the point ofthe spreadershall stop the loop being drawn,

the spreader entering the groove at the hack and expand the loop, thebottom of the blade comingjust above the top of the shuttle, so

that the shuttle can be moved to and fro below it. As soon as the pointof the shuttle has entered the loop the blade is drawn back by a spring;or, in place of this arrangement, the blade may be pressed forward atthe proper time by a spring and be drawn back by the slide that carriesthe hook. In order that the loner thread may be laid onto the hook whenit has descended through the material being sewed, the hood is caused topass down through a hollow axis, on the exterior of which is a toothedwheel. This wheel is immediately below the small table or surface uponwhich the material rests. The lower thread is led through a hole in thiswheel, and also through a small eye carried by it on its under side.When the hook has descended down through the hollow axis the axis iscaused to revolve, and the thread is thus lapped around the book.

The axis is caused to revolve in the following manner: With the toothedwheel on the hollow axis a toothed wheel of larger diameter gears. Onthis larger toothed wheel is a crank-pin, to which one end of a rod. isjointed. This rod extends along the side of the support that carries theplate or table upon which the material being sewed rests, and the rod atits outer end is provided with a pin which enters a slot in the lowerendof a lever which passes up through the standard that carries thehollow arm, the standard being made hollow for this purpose. The upperend of this lever is acted on by a cam on the main shaft, which passesthrough the hollow arm, and is by it caused to move to and fro. Thiscauses the rod jointed to its lower end also to be moved to and fro, andthus gives an alternate partial-rotary motion to the wheel which gearswith the wheel on the hollow axis. The hollow axis is thus also causedpartially to revolve. The upper end of the lever that is acted on by thecam is made of aforked shape, the prongs of which come one on one sideof the cam and the other on the other, and the cam is formed by inclinesor projections fixed or formed on opposite sides of a disk that is fixedon the axis, the inclines on the opposite sides of the disk being soformed that the cam is in all its parts of the same width, so that boththe prongs always rest against its sides.

Having thus stated the nature of the said invention, we will proceedmore fully to describe the manner of performing the same.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 represent the two oppositesides of our machine in elevation. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the frontand back ends ot" the machine, and Fig. 4 is a view of the front.

A A is the base of the machine, supporting the arm B B B B, the upperportion of which carries the shaft 0 G, from which the motive power iscommunicated to the cam D and to the eccentric-wheels E and F of thedial G.

The vertical hook i is attached to a sliding bar, I I, which moves upand down in a guidebox on the front of the upper portion of arm B, beingoperated by means of a bowl, h, on the stud H, which bowl works in aslot, 70, cut in a plate, It, attached to the needle-slide I I. Whentherefore rotary motion is imparted to the shaft 0 the consequentrotation of the dial G will cause the bowl h to give an up-and-downmotion to the needle-bar I I, and with it to the hook i. At the sametime the eccentric F, ro-

tating between the forksff, will impartaperpendicular motion to theslide M M. Near the top of the slide M M is fixed a stud, n, whichworksin a curved slot near the end of the lever N N, causing it to rockon the fulcrum n, and thus give to the shuttle-driver O, with which itis connected by the stud 0, the motion required to drive the shuttle Ubackward and forward in the race V. At the same time the eccentric E, inthe course ofits rotation, comes in contact with the rod P, and throughit raises one end of the lever Q, which, by rocking on the fulcrum q,causes the other end to force down the rod B R. The rod It It isconnected by a knee-joint, r, with a second rod, S, at the lower end ofwhich is the serrated plate 8, connected with it by a hinge-joint. Theserrated plate 8 is held in its position on the arm B by a spring, T,fixed to bar R by the pin t at such an angle that the upward pull of thehook i through any material placed under the serrated plate 8 is notsufficient to move the bar S from its normal position. From thisarrangement it follows that when the rod R R is depressed in the waydescribed above, the motion is communicated by the rod 8 to the serratedplate 8, thus feeding forward any material placed between it and the armB in any direction within certain limits, at the will of the operator,as hereinafter described. When the rotation of the eccentric E relievesthe pressure on rod R R the spring T causes the serrated plate 8 toreturn to its normal position. The rod R R is of cylindrical form from 3to 4, and thus moves freely in the bearings 5 5 unless turned upon itsaxis and fixed to feed in the required direction by tightening the screw6, which passes through block 7 The block 7 is arranged to slide in aslot cut in the plate at the front of the needle-box.

It will be seen that the direction in which the work is propelled willdepend upon the position to which the serrated plate is turned andsecured by the adjustment of rod R.

The length ofthe stitch is regulated by the screw 8 at the top of therod RE. The cam D, in the course of its rotation, gives a rocking motionto the rod W W, that works on the fulcrum w. This motion is communicatedby the horizontal rod X X, which passes through the lower portion of armB toacog-wheel,Y, thus giving the required rotation to a smallercogwheel, y. The cog-wheel y is provided with a guide to supply theunder thread to the hook i, which descends through the center of thecogwheel J.

On the shaft C- is an eccentric, d, that in a portion of its revolutionraises the slide 10, forcing it against the bottom of the reel 11, onwhich the under thread is wound. The incline 011 the lower edge of theslide 0, as shownin Fig. 2, forces down thelever 0, which, by entering anotch or slit in spreader Z, holds it back until the slide has passedforward sufticient to release 0 from the notch in Z.

Having thus described the principal parts actuated by the main shat'tot'the machine, we now proceed to state in what manner the stitch isformed.

Supposing the material to be fixed in the position to be sewed on thearm B, under the serrated plate 3, by the rotation of the shaft 0 thehook i will be forced through it to the required depth through thecenter of the cogwheel y. At this time the propeller S s is released bythe rotation of the eccentric E and recoversits normal position ,asdescribed above.

As thehook ascends the under thread, supplied by the bobbin throughproper guides to the carrier, is laid in it by the rotation of thecog-wheel y, actuated, as before described, by cam l), and the eccentricd forces the slide and presses 10 against the bobbin 11, thus cnablin gthe hook to pull the thread released, as hereinafter described, fromtlie heel of the shuttle U, and so over the thread supplied by theshuttle, forming a lock-stitch in the center of the material. Before thihooki has reached its highest point the shuutle-driver O has carried'the shuttle U to the end of the race V, and the eccentric d in itsrotation has released the slide 10 from its pressure against the bobbin11, and a projection, .12, at the back of the needle-slide I I, byknocking against the upper portion of the loop-former 13, forces itslower end under the point of hook 1', thus dividing the threads which ithas brought up through the material. At this time the point of theshuttle begins to enter between the divided threads, the hook makesaslight descent, and then rests awhile, relieving the strain on thethread, which, as the shuttle proceeds, is caught by the spreader Z,fitting in the groove at the back of the shuttle, in the positiondescribed above. The hook now continues its descent, and at the sametime the propeller moves the material. The thread is released from thehook and held in its position over the shuttle by the spreader Zuntilthe shuttle has reached its farthest point. During the next ascentof the needle it is pulled tight over the shuttle-thread, as beforedescribed, thus forming, with two wax-threads, the ordinary shut tle orlook stitch.

Having now set forth the nature of our improvements in wax-thread sewingmachinery and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, wewish it to be understood that we claim-- 1. The combinatiominasewing-machine, of the following instrumentalities, viz: a table onwhich the material rests and is supported, a reciprocatingfeeding-instrument to move the material along said table, and a hook,rotating guide, and shuttle, to produce a lock-stitch with two threads,all operating in combination substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in amachine for making a lock-stitch, of a shuttleand hook, both arranged on the upper side of the table, substantially inthe manner described.

3. The arrangement of the shuttle and shuttie-race of sewing-machinesabove the table or surface on which the material to be sewed rests.

4. The arrangement of the apparatus herein described for operating ahook, a shuttle, and a feeder from eccentrics in one needle-box, asabove described.

5. The arrangement of the apparatus herein described for dividing theloop of thread that is drawn up by the hook, and for spreading the loopover the shuttle.

6. The arrangement of the apparatus herein described for shortening orlengthening the stitch, and for feeding the work in difi'erentdirections, in the manner above described.

JOHN KEATS. WILLIAM STEPHENS CLARK.

Witnesses:

1*. S DUCKETT, Enw. GRIFFIN.

Both of Glastonbury.

